RU2629461C2 - Method of creation of electrostatic protection from meteorites and space radiation charged particles - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: electricity.

SUBSTANCE: method involves creation of an electrostatic high field in a cylindrical coaxial capacitor (CC). The outer plate of the CC is a folded metallized film. The capacity of a charged (for example, up to 600 kV) CC is reduced by its unwinding around the axis of the cylinder. As a result of unwinding, the film straightens out under the action of centrifugal forces, forming an outer cylindrical plate with a radius much larger than that of the inner plate. With a sharp drop in the capacitance of the CC and under the condition of conservation of its charge, the voltage and energy increase sharply, so that the potential difference between the CC plates can reach, for example, 2 GV (which is sufficient for the reflection of charged particles with energy ~ 2 GeV). In the CC field, small meteorites can be destroyed due to electric breakdown.

EFFECT: reduced mass of electrostatic protection while providing centrifugal compensation of the attraction between the coaxial capacitor plates.

2 dwg

Description

The invention relates to the field of protection against ionizing radiation during space flights outside the action of protecting the Earth's magnetic field. The main danger here for human health and the operation of electronic devices are protons and positively charged nuclei of high-energy galactic radiation elements - about 2 GeV (Eugene Parker, How to Protect Space Travelers. In the World of Science, February 2007, p. 21).

Radiation protection using absorbent material, for example a 5-meter layer of water, even for a small capsule of the order of 15 m ³ weighs more than 600 tons (see ibid.). Simple calculations show that for a 200 m ³ capsule, the mass of the water screen will be 2420 tons.

Radiation protection with a magnetic field is also quite heavy. A magnetic field toroidal solenoid from Hoffman et al., NASA / NIAC 2005 protects a volume of 200 m ³ and weighs at least 400 tons (Burger WJ Active Magnetic Shielding for Long Duration Manned Space Missions.// 6th IAASS Conference Session 33 Safety Design ), which is unbearable for modern rocket carriers. The bulk of the magnetic protection is the weight of the superconducting wires. This drawback is deprived of electrostatic protection, consisting of coaxial surfaces, where the layer of a charged metal film can be very small (Rebeko A.G. METHOD OF PROTECTION AGAINST CHARGED SPACE RADIATION PARTICLES. Patent RU (11) 2008130936 (13) A). True, the method of charging the proposed spherical capacitor to a voltage of more than 2 GeV and the method of compensating the attractive forces between the plates are not entirely clear. A potential difference of 2 GeV is necessary to reflect protons of galactic radiation with an energy of 2 GeV or less. There are “wake-up" laser-plasma accelerators capable of accelerating single electron beams with a charge of 10 ^-7 C to an energy of 1 GeV or higher (see Chandrashekar Joshi. “Plasma accelerators”, In the world of science, May 2006), but this, of course, is very little to charge capacitors with the surface of the plates tens and hundreds of square meters.

The problem to which the present invention is directed, is to create such a method of charging electrostatic protection, in which at the same time would be able to compensate for the attraction between its plates.

The solution of this problem is achieved by the fact that for electrostatic protection a form of coaxial capacitor is proposed, in which a protective electric field is created between the inner and outer cylinders. Its inner cylindrical lining 1 is covered with a layer of insulator 2 with high electrical strength (Fig. 1). Before charging the capacitor on the surface of the insulator 2 are metal segments 3 of the outer lining of the capacitor. They are attached to a strong polymer film (for example, of fluoroplastic or crystalline polyethylene) 4, which is metallized on the outside. The metal segments are connected to the inner cylinder by quartz cables 6 (Fig. 2), which can be etched when the segments are removed from the inner lining to a certain length. Initially, before the charging process, they form the outer lining of the cylindrical coaxial capacitor. The segments are coated with an insulator fused with quartz, and are interconnected electrically through thin wires 5 enclosed in a shell of an insulator. Thus, they are coated with a dielectric layer. The segments are isolated from the metallized layer by the dielectric and the film 4. The film itself is reinforced with strong Kevlar filaments and is in the folded state before charging the capacitor.

The process of charging a capacitor with energy consists of two parts. First, a potential difference U ₁ is created between the inner and outer plates, which the insulator 2 can withstand. In a first approximation, there are parameters of a quasi-flat charged capacitor: C ₁ is its capacity, Q is its charge, ε ₁ is its energy:

where R ₁ is the radius of the inner lining, L is the length of the cylindrical capacitor, d is the thickness of the insulator 2 between the inner lining and the charged segments, ε ₀ is the dielectric constant.

The charged segments are attracted to the inner cylindrical plate with a force F due to the attraction of charges:

F = qe

where Q is the capacitor charge, E is the electric field strength between the plates.

Then the inner lining-cylinder is rotated until the centrifugal force tears off the charged segments from the inner cylinder. This is subject to:

where M is the mass of the film with segments, V ₁ is the linear speed of rotation of the capacitor plates, R ₁ is the radius of the inner plate, E is the electric field strength, which is defined as

After this, the charged segments along with the film continue to move away from the inner lining until the entire system is in equilibrium. In this case, the speed of the outer lining V ₂ decreases until the centrifugal force is balanced by electrostatic attraction:

In this case, the radius of the outer cylindrical lining will increase to R ₂ . The charge of the segments during the straightening of the metallized film will be distributed over its entire surface. It is fixed and constant, but the capacity of a cylindrical capacitor

decreases with increasing R ₂ . It is clear that his tension and energy will increase:

In this process, the kinetic energy of a rotating film with segments will pass into a potential capacitor, which thus acquires energy. If necessary, the capacitor energy can be increased if the rotation speed of the outer shell is increased, which can be achieved by transmitting the angular momentum of rotation from the inner shell to the outer shell through quartz cables until they stretch to a certain limit, or by spinning the outer shell with an external jet engine. The entire shell of the film 4 during straightening is a closed sealed cocoon. This is necessary so that the interplanetary plasma does not penetrate between the plates of a charged capacitor, which would lead to its discharge. The protected space can be located both inside the inner cylindrical plate and between the protective elements, which are charged coaxial capacitors.

Let's look at a specific example of how a coaxial capacitor is charged. A potential difference is created between the segments and the inner cylinder, which the insulator can withstand. The breakdown electric field strength for fused silica is 600 kV / mm. If the insulator thickness is d = 1 mm, then such a quasi-flat capacitor can be charged up to 600 kV. We assume that the internal radius of the capacitor is R ₁ = 1.5 m, the length of the cylindrical capacitor is L = 31 m, the distance between the plates to the unwind is 1 mm, the potential difference between the plates is 600 kV. Then, after the first stage of charging, the system parameters will be:

capacitance C ₁ = 2.6⋅10 ^-6 F;

capacitor voltage U1 = 600 kV;

electric field energy ε1 = 470 kJ;

encapsulated charge Q = 1.55 C;

the force of attraction of the shells F = 9.3⋅10 ⁸ N;

the radius of the inner shell R ₁ = 1.5 m;

the radius of the outer shell R ₂ = 1,501 m (approximately);

the speed of the outer shell V ₁ = 1200 m / s.

Let us take an acceptable mass of the outer shell of a metallized film with metal segments of 1000 kg, the thickness of the fluoroplastic film is about 1-2 mm. Then, from simple calculations, we find that for the separation of the outer shell from the inner one, a speed of 1200 m / s is needed.

After the complete promotion of the device, the complete straightening of the cocoon, the system parameters will be:

capacitance C = 7,5⋅10 ^-10 F;

capacitor voltage U ₂ = 2 GV;

electric field energy ε = 2.3 GJ;

encapsulated charge Q = 1.55 C;

the force of attraction of the shells F = 9.3⋅10 ⁷ N;

the radius of the outer shell R ₂ = 15 m;

the speed of the outer shell V ₂ = 380 m / s.

The potential difference between the capacitor plates is sufficient here to reflect near-light protons with an energy of 2 GeV.

Hypothetically, the second stage of charging the capacitor can also be realized if superconducting solenoids are placed on the plates, which will repel each other. But here the technical side of the matter is not entirely clear how to construct a solenoid of the outer shell with a variable cross-section, where its radius will change.

Interestingly, a cylindrical coaxial capacitor so charged will effectively deflect charged “near-light” particles that fly not only across, but also along its axis! In this case, it becomes possible to deflect particles with energies much larger than 2 GeV.

Another feature of the device under consideration is that when penetrating between the plates of a charged capacitor, meteorite particles, which usually consist of rock with inclusions of carbon and metal (iron, nickel, etc.), in an electric field of high tension they will instantly undergo an electrical breakdown, absorbing the energy of an electric field. And the material of meteorites will be dispersed until it turns into steam. Additionally, a very large energy for destruction can be extracted by draining electrons onto a meteorite from a damaged metallized film in the form of a discharge tail, a “lightning” that will follow it. This opens up the possibility of using electrostatic shields also as anti-meteor protection. This universal set of properties also favorably distinguishes the proposed electrostatic protection from anti-meteor screens known in the literature (Malkin A.I. A new concept for protecting spacecraft from micrometeoroids and orbital debris // Reports of the Academy of Sciences. - 2011. - T. 436, No. 4, February . - p. 470-47).

Claims (1)

A method of creating electrostatic protection against meteorites and charged particles of cosmic radiation, including charging a cylindrical coaxial capacitor to the maximum allowable, in breakdown, potential difference between its inner and outer plates, the outer panel being made in the form of a folded metallized film, bringing the capacitor into rotation around its longitudinal axis to increase when the film is straightened by centrifugal forces, the radius of the outer cylindrical lining of the capacitor and Nia thereby the electrostatic energy of the capacitor voltage and with a constant charge it.

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